The Get-Go [Ashton Irwin]

22: Get With My Friends

    Zoë is the only friend of mine that’s actually met Ashton. Or any of the band, actually. To be honest, it wasn’t even my choice for her to meet them. Not that I don’t love Zo, or didn’t want her to meet Ashton, it just wasn’t in my plans.

    It was last November, and my Mom had to fly down to LA for a weekend for a conference. As soon as I told Ash, joking that it really did suck that he was always somewhere else, because we would’ve had the apartment to ourselves for the weekend, he insisted I come down with her. The band was writing and shooting a music video in LA for a few days, he said, and he wanted to see me.

    Of course, I couldn’t exactly tell Mom that the only reason I wanted to come with her was to see my long distance band member boyfriend. So I told a little white lie and said I wanted to look at UCLA, in case I decided to apply there for university.

    Of course, Mom knew I had an ulterior motive, and told me I couldn’t come until I came up with the real reason I wanted to go to LA. Finally, I explained that while yes, I did kind of want to look at UCLA, I also wanted to go because I knew that Ashton would be in town. That obviously lead to a complete other discussion about Ashton, and what the hell did I think I was doing with him, because Wynter White, he’s almost two years older than me, and he doesn’t have a real job and blah blah blah.

    Finally, I hauled Zoë into it. Mom agreed to let me come if Zoë came as well, and we actually did go look at UCLA. And that Zoë went everywhere with me. She trusts Zoë, in case you couldn’t tell, and probably assumed Zoë would keep me out of trouble.

    Ash actually promised to meet us at the airport, and he did. The moment I saw him, I ran into his arms, wrapping mine tightly around his waist while we both proclaimed how much we’d missed each other. The sound of my mother clearing her throat pulled us apart.

    “Hi, Ms. Saxon,” Ashton greeted her brightly. He stretched out a hand, which she shook briskly, and gave him a small smile. My mother’s alway been kind of a bitch after she gets off an airplane.

    “Hello, Ashton. How are you?”

    “I’m great,” he beams. “How was your flight?”

    “It was fine.”

    Noticing the awkward silence that was about to ensue, I cleared my throat and started making introductions. "Ash, this is my best friend, Zoë. Zoë, this is my b-" I stop myself just short of introducing him as 'my boyfriend' in front of my mother, who was already wary enough of him when she thought he was just my friend. "This is my friend, Ashton."

    Luckily, my mother was either too tired or too irritable to pay much notice to my slip-up. I caught a hurt glance from Ash, and a surprised one from Zoë, but neither of them said anything. As something of a reassurance to Ash, I pulled the chain around my neck out from under my shirt, and fiddled casually with his ring on the end of it.

    He relaxed visibly, but Zoë, not understanding the significance of the ring, still looked confused. My mother mentioned needing to pick up her and Zoë's luggage - as usual, I managed to cram everything I needed into my carry on - and we started off towards baggage claim.

    Ashton took my little wheeled suitcase and slung an arm around my shoulders, and we followed in the others' wake. "She doesn't know?"

    His voice was low enough that only I would be able to hear it. I shook my head slowly, looking up to meet his gaze. His eyes looked emerald that day, and I had to force myself to stay on topic, as opposed to staring into them for a while. "Sorry, Ash. You should've heard her when I told her I wanted to come so I could see you. She was so irritated, and she kept bringing up all the stuff we were worried about, and I just couldn't take that. Zoë knows, though."